-The Economic Times Food inflation in India, as measured by food articles price index, has averaged 11.3% for the period FY 2008-09 to December 2012, with a maximum of 15.6% in 2010-11 and minimum of 7.3% in 2011-12. In December 2012, wheat prices stood 23% higher than in December 2011, and rice prices 17% higher in the same period. Although this spurt in wheat and rice prices in the face of...
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Food for granted-Sebastian PT, N Madhavan and E Kumar Sharma
-Business Today What does the proposed food security law mean for the government's finances? Most days, around half a dozen middleaged men in Tamil Nadu's Nemam village head for a slushy pond. They are farm labourers who have had little work for the past few months because of a drought in their Tiruvarur district. As an alternative they catch fish, but the income from it is not enough to survive on. "But...
More »Cash transfer fraud: who will bear responsibility?-Remya Nair & Surabhi Agarwal
-Live Mint Ministry wants UIDAI to be held liable for fake transactions, but the latter says that’s outside its mandate The transformation of India’s subsidy system to one in which cash is paid directly to the intended beneficiary is faced with a situation in which none of the various government agencies involved is willing to assume responsibility in cases of fraud, according to two people familiar with the development. The programme, the pilot...
More »Scoring higher on education-Philip G. Altbach and Pawan Agarwal
-The Hindu Effective spending, reworking the affiliation system and breaking academic bureaucracy are key to better universities Although Indian higher education suffers from many dysfunctionalities and the system overall is characterised by “pinnacles of excellence in a sea of mediocrity”, it does reasonably well by some international comparisons. Here are a few examples: — India is a global leader in terms of GDP spent by public and private sources on higher education. India...
More »The Doctor Only Knows Economics-Lola Nayar and Amba Batra Bakshi
-Outlook This could be the UPA’s worst cut to its beloved aam admi. Healthcare has virtually been handed over to privateers. Not For Those Who Need It Most Govt seems to have abandoned healthcare to the private sector Diagnosing An Ailing Republic 70 per cent of India still lives in the villages, where only two per cent of qualified allopathic doctors are available Due to lack of access to medical care, rural India...
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